NASA Joins "Around the World in 80 Telescopes"

WASHINGTON -- A collection of NASA missions will be involved in a live event April 3 that will allow the public to get an inside look at how these missions are run. "Around the World in 80 Telescopes" is a 24-hour webcast that is part of the "100 Hours of Astronomy" event for the International Year of Astronomy 2009.

During the webcast, viewers will be able to visit some of the most advanced telescopes on and off the planet. For NASA's space-based missions, the webcast will be broadcast from control centers throughout the United States. To view the webcast, visit:

http://100hoursofastronomy.org/webcast

As part of the webcast, each mission will release a never-before-seen image from the telescope or observatory. The new images can be found on the websites listed below. Please note these times correspond to the beginning of each mission's segment on the live webcast and when each new image will be available.

The NASA missions participating in the Webcast, in chronological order, are (times EDT, April 3):

Hubble Space Telescope: 1:20 p.m.

http://hubblesite.org/news/2009/04

Swift Gamma-ray Burst Explorer: 1:40 p.m.

http://www.nasa.gov/swift

Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope: 2 p.m.

http://www.nasa.gov/fermi

SOHO and TRACE: 3:20 p.m.

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov

and

http://sunland.gsfc.nasa.gov/smex/trace

STEREO: 3:40 p.m.

http://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov

Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX): 4:20 p.m.

http://www.galex.caltech.edu

Chandra X-ray Observatory: 4:40 p.m.

http://www.chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2009

Spitzer Space Telescope: 5:20 p.m.

http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/spitzer/index.shtml

Kepler 3:05 a.m. (April 4)

http://kepler.nasa.gov

For information about the International Year of Astronomy, visit:

http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov

For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov